The government has awarded a 220bn/- contract to a German contractor ‘Straberg’ for the construction of 21 kilometres of roads and five flyovers under the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit project.
Minister for Works, Dr John Magufuli revealed this in Dar es Salaam yesterday during a ceremony where he was offered with Honorary Certificate Fellowship by theTanzania Institute of Engineers.
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| Minister for Works - Mr. Magufuli |
He said under the project set for take off in the next two weeks the 21-kilometre road stretch will be from Kivukoni to Kimara area while the flyovers will be built at Tazara, Ubungo, Magomeni, Fire, Kamata and Chang’ombe road junctions to address the problem of congestion.
“The government has disbursed a total of 220bn/- to the contractor for implementation of DART. The contractor has promised to hand over the project within 36 months,” he noted.
The minister called on other stakeholders including the Transport and Communication Ministry to support the efforts to reduce extreme congestion in Dar es Salaam.
Dr Magufuli said under the project a total of 29 bus stands and service roads will constructed.
He said that President Jakaya Kikwete is expected to lay a foundation stone for the project in April this year.
According to him Dar es Salaam has a total of 506 kilometres of roads, but only 120 are under tarmac, adding that plans are underway for their expansion.
Dr Magufuli said laws and regulations will be properly applied during the expansion of the roads to ensure justice for all.
He said among the main sources of road congestion in the city is the Ubungo Bus Terminal which he said is to be relocated to Bunju area in the outskirts of the city.
He called on engineers not to hesitate to advise the government on various matters, saying they can directly seek consultation with the President or channel their request through his office.
“You should not hesitate to advise the government because this country is ours,” he said.
He said his office has received requests from Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke municipal councils for the upgrading of 27 roads from district to trunk roads. He said stakeholders including engineers are today expected to meet to discuss its implementation.
For his part, the President of the Institute of Engineers Tanzania Dr Malima Bundala who presented the certificate to Dr Magufuli said the minister had been awarded in recognition of his contribution to the sector.
Bundala said the appointment of members of honour of best engineers is always made by the council to recognise an individual’s unique contribution to the development of the engineers’ profession for provision of better service to the community.
DART public relations manager William Gatambi was recently quoted saying implementation of the project has encountered a number of challenges, including traders defying the order to vacate premises to pave the way for construction of the roads.
He said some residents agreed to shift soon after they had been paid compensation, but others have been reluctant to do so.
Speaking during the DART official launch in August 2010, President Jakaya Kikwete said it will be completed in 2025. He directed the ministry responsible to deploy qualified contractors to implement the project.
He said the number of vehicles in Dar es Salaam was expected to reach 500,000 by 2030 from the current slightly over 100,000, adding to the congestion unless measures to address it were taken.
Dar es Salaam contributes 75 per cent of the country’s economy, calling for measures to address its transport problems.
Dar’s traffic jams are said to be costing the economy 4bn/- daily, equivalent to over 1.4trn/- per year.
Source The Guardian
Poor city planning contributes to the congestion in the city of Dar es Salaam. Flyovers / Interchanges themselves won’t necessarily solve the congestion problem. Instead, the problem will be shifted from one point to another. Most of dare s salaam dwellers let them be business people, worker or just an individual looking for services, always have to go to downtown Dar es Salaam to find a bank, a post office, or a ministry office. These are facilities that attract people to the city core in an hourly basis.
ReplyDeleteOne of the solutions to the congestions could be to disperse the services to the city outskirt. A good example is the way The Ministry of Agriculture was relocated from the city centre to Temeke suburb. More relocation to ministries that attract many people in downtown Dar, such as Ardhi (Land) should follow this example.
Flyovers/interchanges if not well planned could cause more chaos than solving the congestion problem. In the morning for example, these facilities would accelerate flow of traffic from different corners of the city and cause a gridlock in the city core. One would have to make a good plan as to where these thousands of vehicles that have been hurried to get to the city core would go. City streets need to be well designated to specific traffics and specific direction of the city in order to avoid chaos.
More alternative routes need to be explored too. One would ask why a person from Kibaha or Kimara has to pass Ubungo and Tazara junctions just to get to the Airport. Why do a person from Vingunguti and those areas has to pass through Tazara, Ubungo, Mwenge junctions just to get to Bunju?
The driving culture in Dar es Salaam needs to be changed as the law and traffic rules are seriously enforced. Most of traffic jams are cause by commuter busses that are driven recklessly in all corners of the city blocking intersections, accesses and service roads. This has to be changed...before starting to think about flyovers and interchanges as these facilities needs a high level of discipline in order to function properly.